iam8bit

Uh, Christopher...

And also shout-out to iam8bit.

They are the ones that sent that to me.

Uh, Christopher Burnett writes in and says, "Tim, yesterday during the show when you and Blessing talked about how to say QSSR, I called it the same thing you did at the exact same time.

You, you, you really are, Danny.

Um, what about Limited Run and iam8bit? Like, those companies that make special edition, uh, releases of games that are typically digital to begin with.

Uh, I, I bought the Sea of Stars iam8bit, uh, version.

It comes with a little, uh, player's manual and it's stuff like that.

It was really neat.

So in celebration of Sonic's 35th anniversary, and I believe timed with the kickoff of the Sonic concert tour, which I think also started in LA here this weekend.

But Sega did a two-day pop-up gallery at a retail space called Arc 8 here in L.A. And they did it in conjunction with their old pals at IM8Bit.

I think for most listeners, the name IM8Bit is synonymous with video game soundtrack vinyls and associated merch or special editions.

They made a killer glow-in-the-dark Mario Galaxy movie soundtrack vinyl that I'm a proud owner of, just as an example.

But for L.A.-based gamers, and specifically for around Nintendo back in the early days of our podcasting, I Am 8-Bit also was the host of a lot of events we used to go cover.

And a cool thing to just spend a little time perusing, not necessarily because it's Sonic, but because of what about Sonic it was showing.

So the exhibit was basically split into two parts.

One half was a selection of curated fan art handpicked by IM8Bit, which had everything from like paintings to ceramics of like little child to adorable little hedgehog sculptures.

Congratulations, Crab Palace.

You just won the We are OFK, speaking of Gen Z lingo, uh, prize thanks to iam8bit.

Now something that we love to call Get a Load of This.

[upbeat music] All right, y'all.

Anyway, so I also got to go on the market floor where retailers were tabling things.

And I was at the IM8Bit booth, and I saw they were selling a replica of Blueprint's keys.

And I'm like, this is great.

I totally want this one for Steven.

There's that kind of stuff.

My overall point is that usually the success has to happen first, and then you can get a tie-in with, like, a limited run, or I Am 8-Bit, or Fan Gamer, or whatever, to do some sort of additional media.

Um, I think it's just very hard to get something over the finish line in its base form anyway, um, to allow for those other things.

But they do exist, it just tends to be a bit further down the line.